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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7455345" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Leadership is basically there to provide for situations where you want people to FOLLOW ORDERS or for situations where you would ask "what is the best way to motivate these guys" or something like that. In 4e Diplomacy sort of got drafted to be an ersatz leadership, but the two things are very different. Someone who's diplomatic is not particularly adept at leading. They represent two distinct approaches to solving problems.</p><p></p><p>I've thought about the whole 'Nobility' thing, but it fails the test of 'is this an approach to problem solving'. Now, some other 4e skills might also be questionable on this score, such as History, which might be best replaced with a general 'scholarship', but then how does that differentiate from Arcana? I didn't really want to get rid of Arcana, because it is after all highly thematic for a fantasy game to have a 'solves problems with magic' kind of a thing. So I kept history, though it is often purposed towards 'general knowledge' in play, so it is a weaker skill. Anyway, Nobility didn't seem to pass the test. Streetwise IMHO can carry the load, it represents someone who 'knows how to get things done'. If your character has a background as nobility and is wealthy, then it probably means he knows the back channels of the upper class more than the dirty back alleys of town. Remember, in this game GMs frame scenes, so you don't always have to make that kind of distinction in each and every character element.</p><p></p><p>As for 'Skill Powers', well.... In my early versions of HoML, which were much more of just a reworking of problematic mechanics in 4e, skill powers were pretty much what they are in 4e. However, things have evolved past that point now. At some point I created a system for powers that was a bit different from 4e in certain details:</p><p></p><p>Powers basically are of several types, Basic (everyone can try to use this power), Utility (if you have a boon which grants this power you can use it, no slots exist for utilities in HoML), or Classified (powers which are granted by a boon/class/power source and require being allocated to a slot, which makes them attack powers by definition). Furthermore the addition of Practices (procedures and rituals) in their current HoML form eroded the need/logic for a lot of the old skill powers as such. Some became Basic powers that are just associated with a given skill (IE swimming, climbing, jumping, etc. can be done by anyone at any time, but they do group with Athletics). Others became Utility powers granted through a specific boon (IE Master Tracker grants some tracking related powers). Some simply got replaced with procedures. There are a few cases where it might be logical for any old person to try something, in which case 'page 42' is always there to help you. </p><p></p><p>I guess the long and short of it is that, as of the latest revision to the rules, there really isn't anything classified directly as a 'skill power' anymore. The category technically still exists, but I'm not sure what exactly would really fall into that bin nowadays. Anything that would require training can be simply made into a boon.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 7455345, member: 82106"] Leadership is basically there to provide for situations where you want people to FOLLOW ORDERS or for situations where you would ask "what is the best way to motivate these guys" or something like that. In 4e Diplomacy sort of got drafted to be an ersatz leadership, but the two things are very different. Someone who's diplomatic is not particularly adept at leading. They represent two distinct approaches to solving problems. I've thought about the whole 'Nobility' thing, but it fails the test of 'is this an approach to problem solving'. Now, some other 4e skills might also be questionable on this score, such as History, which might be best replaced with a general 'scholarship', but then how does that differentiate from Arcana? I didn't really want to get rid of Arcana, because it is after all highly thematic for a fantasy game to have a 'solves problems with magic' kind of a thing. So I kept history, though it is often purposed towards 'general knowledge' in play, so it is a weaker skill. Anyway, Nobility didn't seem to pass the test. Streetwise IMHO can carry the load, it represents someone who 'knows how to get things done'. If your character has a background as nobility and is wealthy, then it probably means he knows the back channels of the upper class more than the dirty back alleys of town. Remember, in this game GMs frame scenes, so you don't always have to make that kind of distinction in each and every character element. As for 'Skill Powers', well.... In my early versions of HoML, which were much more of just a reworking of problematic mechanics in 4e, skill powers were pretty much what they are in 4e. However, things have evolved past that point now. At some point I created a system for powers that was a bit different from 4e in certain details: Powers basically are of several types, Basic (everyone can try to use this power), Utility (if you have a boon which grants this power you can use it, no slots exist for utilities in HoML), or Classified (powers which are granted by a boon/class/power source and require being allocated to a slot, which makes them attack powers by definition). Furthermore the addition of Practices (procedures and rituals) in their current HoML form eroded the need/logic for a lot of the old skill powers as such. Some became Basic powers that are just associated with a given skill (IE swimming, climbing, jumping, etc. can be done by anyone at any time, but they do group with Athletics). Others became Utility powers granted through a specific boon (IE Master Tracker grants some tracking related powers). Some simply got replaced with procedures. There are a few cases where it might be logical for any old person to try something, in which case 'page 42' is always there to help you. I guess the long and short of it is that, as of the latest revision to the rules, there really isn't anything classified directly as a 'skill power' anymore. The category technically still exists, but I'm not sure what exactly would really fall into that bin nowadays. Anything that would require training can be simply made into a boon. [/QUOTE]
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